Who’s Winning ‘Mobile Wars’

As mobile devices – smartphones and tablets – grow roots ever deeper into our personal and professional lives, publishers may feel forced to choose sides in the various wars and battles raging among Apple and Samsung, iOS and Android, and various other players and platforms.

But a leading developer of mobile apps and related technology solutions for publishers sees a way to make peace with the many mobile wars. The trick, says Amphetamobile founder and CEO SiNae Pitts, is to pick your battles.

“There are many mobile wars,” Pitts explains for CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “There had been a lot of talk in the early days of whether publishers should develop native applications or should they be making mobile websites? And we’ve always taken the position that it’s never an either or – it always depends on the use case. With mobile-friendly websites, certainly there is a use case for creating a landing page and presenting information.” On the other hand, she adds, “native apps give a richer experience and enable people to take that content that you’re presenting and make it deeper into their workflow.

Ahead of the 35thSSP annual meeting in San Francisco, opening on Wednesday, Pitts noted that for many medical and research publishers Apple has won the platform contest – for now.

In that publishing niche, Pitts says, “iOS continues to dominate in terms of the devices installed, and the devices that people use, in hospitals or in the research setting. So the approach is to lead with an iOS app to make the best experience for the majority of the users. And given sufficient interest, depending on their population, to then build an Android app.”